Transparency is needed to sort things out. Before big change happens, God first reveals what’s really going on.

In the Book of Revelation - the last book of the Word - the apostle John describes a series of apocalyptic visions that he experienced during his exile on the Isle of Patmos, in the Aegean Sea.

In one of these visions, he saw four horsemen, the first riding a white horse, the second a red horse, the third a black, and the fourth - named Death - riding a pale horse. These "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" - oft-pictured - are described in Revelation 6:1-8.

What do these horses, and their riders, represent? What do they have to do with us, today? Watch as Curtis Childs and Jonathan Rose explore the hidden Bible meaning of the Four Horsemen in the Book of Revelation, in this video from the Swedenborg and Life Series, from the Swedenborg Foundation.

Plus, to go straight to the source, follow the links below to the places in "Apocalypse Revealed" where Swedenborg explained the inner meaning of this famous Bible story. A good place to start would be Apocalypse Revealed 298.

(Reference: Apocalypse Explained 315; Apocalypse Revealed 262-263, 301, 306, 314, 316, 320, 322-323)

7997. The Passover supper represented the groups of angels in heaven living in association with one another according to their forms of good and truths, see above in 7836, 7996. And since it represented those groups it was decreed not only that each household should be together by itself to eat it on that occasion but also that none should be associated with them except those who could represent togetherness in love characteristic of heavenly communities. All others were to be set apart. Those to be set apart were 'foreigners', for these meant people who were not in possession of the Church's goodness and truth. Those to be set apart also 'strangers' and 'hired servants', since these represented people prompted by natural inclination alone and people seeking material gain who would make a show of doing what was good and true. None of these can be integrated among the angels in heaven. But they are allowed to wander around during the initial period after their arrival in the next life, before they undergo the stages of vastation of good and truth. When during that initial period they approach any heavenly community and sense the sphere of holiness emanating from the truth belonging to the good of innocence, meant by 'the blood of the Passover lamb', 7846, 7877, they can go no further but in fear and loathing make a hasty retreat.